This week's poll was suggested by MelonnBreadd. We're not talking about story arcs here. Some series (in my experience, often times the slice of life series) feature episodic chapters. Imagine TV shows with the monster of the week (like Star Trek: The Next Generation). Then compare that a series that has a clear plot that keeps moving forward (like Star Trek: Picard). Now apply those ideas to manga, manhua, or manhwa. Which do you prefer?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Question: Preferred layout for reading manga?
Choices:
Single page - votes: 1044 (43.3%)
Double page - votes: 209 (8.7%)
Long strip - votes: 1097 (45.5%)
Horizontal strip - votes: 62 (2.6%)
There were 2412 total votes.
The poll ended: September 30th, 2023 10:15am PDT

It's interesting how most of the written comments preferred single page, but the anonymous masses prefer long strip

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

With both.

Continuous plot for sure. There are episodic series which I really like (Detective Conan, Sailor Moon, Ranma ½) but I go through periods of liking them and not. Sometimes events are interesting but the quality varies with episodic plots because often they are trying to drag it out for longer. After becoming invested in the storyline at the beginning I end up impatient for something to finally happen.

A good continuous plot catches the attention and holds onto it. They are the manga that really leave me excited for the next chapter and rushing back home to read more. Even in Detective Conan, when the story moves forward I've almost forgotten previous developments. This is also why I like Sailor Moon manga much more than the anime despite its beautiful backgrounds and clothing. I do still read a lot of trashy and vapid manga, though.

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...Hop!

I did read a few episodic ones but definitely prefer continuous...

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I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

Clear, continuous plot for me. I enjoy episodic manga, but they end up going on too long and it's easy to get tired of them if they don't keep it fresh.

A nice middle is episodic with a continuous underlying plot so it feels like we're advancing toward some resolution.

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http://i.imgur.com/LxhWm.jpg (will reformat this some day…)

continuous plot
but not continuous arcs by romantic interest 'of the week' that have no shot with MC

Episodic. I think it's harder to execute well (or at least in a way that I personally enjoy it), but I love the concept of exploring a new thought or character every chapter.

Def continuous here. Even the episodic manga i like (for example https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/ybezj1c/boku-ga-shinu-dake-no-hyakumonogatari) have an overarching plot that usually i'm more compelled to than the actual story of the week element.
I feel like episodic-style media in general makes it hard to be invested in the characters and plot when i know the plot will be completely washed away and the characters recycled. Like, just watch a movie at that point.

Last edited by MelonnBreadd at 12:13 am, Oct 2 2023

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-Sincerely, six angry cats in a trench coat

I'd rather not have "clear" in continuous plot, but it's the closest. I enjoy the ones that seem episodic but eventually reveal a larger plot. Or ones that meander into a larger plot.

Voynich Hotel, Gintama and Shadow of Israphel all come to mind. Uh, that last one wasn't a manga.

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I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

When I was young with less than 100 series read under my belt, it was continuous because my baby brain felt like episodic stuffs was "filler" and detracting of the "main story".

Now I'm old and I am beginning to appreciate more the craft required to create punchy gags with very small amounts of pages.

But I still voted for continuous. The best is actually the best of both worlds.

In the end, it really depends on the work itself, I now find a lot of continuous stories subpar due to how predictable they are and recycle past stories, and newer series that are episodic feel much more refreshing because they have more liberty in exploring new ideas.